Pattern tracing apparatus



N0V 7, 1961 B. H. ANDERSON 3,007,395

PATTERN TRACING APPARATUS Fi'ld July 2, 1958 Tmp/v525 United tes3,007,395 PATTERN TRACN G APPARATUS Bernice H. Anderson, Rte. 1, Box818, Excelsior, Minn. Filed July 2, 1958, Ser. No. 746,240 Claims. (Cl.101-25) This invention relates to pattern tracing apparatus. Moreparticularly, it relates to a needle structure designed for tracingpatterns upon fabrics where several thicknesses or fabrics are to be cutto the same pattern.

In dress making and other forms of needlecraft, it is often necessary totrace a pattern upon several pieces of fabric in order to indicate uponeach piece the location of various components of the dress or othergarment such as a pocket, button, buttonhole, pleat, etc. In mostgarments such components are duplicated and positioned in correspondinglocations at the left and right hand sides of the garment and hence itis important that the locations of these components be accurate.Considerable time and effort is expended in tracing the patterns uponeach such piece of material and yet this has always heretofore beenconsidered necessary. My invention is designed to enable the user tocomplete the entire operation by merely tracing the pattern once with mypattern tracing needle.

In cutting patterns in dress making and the like, it is generallynecessary that several thicknesses or pieces of fabric must be cut tothe same pattern and it is conventional in so doing to place the patternupon the upper layer or thickness of the fabrics and cut severalthicknesses to the same pattern insofar as is possible. Severalthicknesses or layers of the fabric are cut simultaneously in order toconserve time and effort by avoiding the necessity of cutting thepattern on each layer or thickness of the fabric individually. It iswell recognized however, that in so doing the pattern upon the lowerpieces of fabric differ somewhat from the pattern cut from the uppersheet or layer of the fabric because in cutting the fabrics the lowerlayers tend to shift relative to the upper layers, with the result thatthe patterns cut from the sheets of fabric are not accurate. Myinvention is designed to overcome this disadvantage by simultaneouslytracing a pattern upon a number of layers of fabric so that it will be asimple matter to cut out the pattern from each sheet or layer of fabricindividually.

lt is a general object of my invention to provide a novel and improvedpattern tracing apparatus of simple and economical construction andoperation.

A more specific object is to provide novel and improved pattern tracingapparatus which may be utilized either manually or in combination with asewing machine to quickly and easily trace a pattern upon several layersof fabric in such a way that the pattern will be equally accurate uponall layers of fabric.

Another object is to provide a simple and inexpensive pattern tracingdevice which will mark each of several layers of fabric simultaneouslyand indelibly in a far more accurate manner than has heretofore beenpossible.

Another object is to provide a simple pattern tracing device utilizing amarking fluid which is so constructed that the reservoir containing themarking fluid may be readily removed and a new reservoir with a freshsupply of marking uid applied thereto.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fullyappear from the following description made in connection with theaccompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to thesame parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. l is a side elevational view of one embodiment of my invention withportions thereof broken away in sections to illustrate the constructionthereof;

Patented Nov. 7, 1961 FIG. 2 is a plan view of the reservoir utilized inconjunction with my pattern tracing needle; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the reservoir with portions brokenaway to more clearly show the construction of the upper wall thereof.

One embodiment of my invention as shown in FIGS. l-3 may include ahollow needle indicated generally by the numeral 5 which has a hollowinside and pointed lower end 6 and a head 7 at its upper end which isflat at one side 8 to adapt the same to be received within the needlechuck 9 of a sewing machine. The chuck 9 is provided with a tighteningscrew 10 which is adapted to engage the flat side 8 of the needle tohold the same tightly therein.

The needle 5 is provided with a marking iluid inlet 11 at its medialportions adjacent the head 7 and with a marking fluid outlet 12 at itsloutside adjacent its lower pointed end 6. It will be noted that theoutlet 12 opens at the outside of the needle so that the marking fluidmay be wiped olf the needle when passing through several layers offabric and thereby apply the marking iiuid to each of the layers offabric.

A reservoir 13 formed of material which is flexible and resilient suchas a high impact plastic is provided for containing the marking uidwhich is indicated generally by the numeral 14. As shown, the reservoiris cylindrical in shape and has walls 13a which are flexible andresilient and sufficiently soft to seal around the needle 5 when theneedle pierces the upper and lower walls of the reservoir as shown inFIG. l. Thus, escape of marking fluid around the needle is prevented bythe soft material from which the wall structures of the reservoir 13 aremade.

The upper wall of the reservoir 13 is so formed as to have tworelatively thin areas 15 and 16. The thin area 15 is centrally disposedand is so formed in order to facilitate insertion of the needle 5therethrough. The thin area 16 is more laterally disposed and isprovided for the sole purpose of facilitating piercing of the upper wallby the needle 5 or some other sharp object if it is found necessary inorder to permit the marking fluid to descend through the needle S to themarking uid outlet 12. It is believed that ordinarily theV upper Wallstructure need not be pierced at the thin area 16 for under normalcircumstances capillary action will be sufficient in the needle 5 tocause the marking fluid to descend and maintain a constant supply ofmarking uid at the outlet 12. If it is found however, that the rate ofconsumption of marking fluid at the outlet 12 is so great that capillaryaction will not provide an ample supply of marking fluid at that point,then the upper wall may be pierced at the thin area 16 in order topermit air to enter the reservoir at that point.

It will be noted that the marking fluid inlet 11 is disposed within theconfines and in communication with the interior of the reservoir 13 sothat the marking iiuid may enter at Athis inlet and descend through theneedle 5 to be disseminated or applied at the marking outlet 12 as theneedle passes through the several layers of fabric. If and when thereservoir 13 is emptied it can be readily replaced by sliding itdownwardly over the lower end of the needle 5 and substituting thereforea new capsule filled with marking fluid by merely forcing the pointedend 6 of the needle S through the thin area 15 and through the lowerwall structure of the reservoir 13 until it reaches the positionrelative to the reservoir shown in FIG. 1.

In use, the several layers of fabric may be placed upon a flat surfacewith the pattern superimposed thereon and the pattern then traced bypiercing therealong with the needle 5 to such an extent that the lowerpointed end 6 of the needle will pass through each layer of fabric.

This of course may be done manually but it is preferred to mount theneedle 5 in the chuck 9 of a sewing machine as shown in FIG. 1 and thenoperating the sewing machine so as to trace the pattern with the rapidlyrising and descending needle 5 in the same manner as would be followedin a sewing operation. As the needle S passes through the fabrics asmall amount of marking lluid will be wiped off upon each layer offabric so that the pattern will be accurately and clearly traced uponeach layer of the fabric. Each layer of fabric will wipe past themarking lluid outlet 12 and in so doing will pick up a small amount ofthe marking fluid with the result that the pattern will be tracedthereon.

From the above it can be seen that I have provided a uniquely simple,inexpensive and effective pattern tracing device which will tracepatterns upon several layers of fabric simultaneously in a highlyimproved manner. The use of this pattern tracing device obviates theinaccuracics heretofore experienced in attempting to simultaneously cuta plurality of layers of fabric while following a pattern superimposedupon only the upper layer of fabric.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made inthe form, details, arrangement and proportion of the parts withoutdeparting from the scope of my invention which consists of the materialshown and described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A pattern tracing apparatus comprising a sewing machine, a hollowneedle mounted on said machine, said needle having a marking uid inletintermediate its ends and having a lower end with a marking lluid outletdisposed adjacent thereto, and a marking lluid containing reservoirformed of flexible and resilient material and mounted on said needlesaid reservoir having its interior connected in fluid communication withthe lluid inlet of said needle whereby marking iluid will pass throughsaid needle from said reservoir and be applied to a fabric when thelatter is pierced by the lower end of said needle.

2. The structure defined in claim l wherein said needle extends throughsaid reservoir and said marking fluid inlet of said needle is disposedwithin the interior thereof.

3. The structure defined in claim 1 wherein said needle extends throughsaid reservoir in piercing relation and is longitudinally slidablerelative thereto to make said reservoir readily removable andreplaceable by a similar reser- 4. A pattern tracing apparatuscomprising a sewing machine including a needle-receiving head, a hollowneedle having its upper end secured within said head, said needle havinga marking fluid inlet intermediate its ends and having a lower end witha marking tluid outlet disposed adjacent thereto, a marking fluidcontaining reservoir formed of flexible and resilient material andmounted on said needle intermediate the ends thereof, and said reservoirhaving its interior connected in lluid communication with the fluidinlet of said needle whereby marking luid will pass through said needlefrom said reservoir and be applied to a fabric when the latter ispierced by the lower end of said needle.

5. A fabric marking device for ilse with sewing machines having needlereceiving heads, said device comprising a hollow needle adapted to haveits upper end secured within the needle-receiving head of such a sewingmachine, said needle having a marking fluid inlet intermediate its endsand having a lower end with a marking fluid outlet disposed adjacentthereto, a marking fluid containing reservoir formed of flexible andresilient material and mounted on said needle intermediate the endsthereof, and said reservoir having its interior arranged in fluidcommunication with the lluid inlet of the needle whereby marking fluidwill pass through said needle from said reservoir and be applied to afabric when the latter is pierced by the lower end of said needle.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,484,298 Krahulec Oct. 1l, 1949 2,582,854 Smith Jan. 15, 1952 2,696,212Dunmire Dec. 7, 1954 2,778,297 Fleisher Ian. 22, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS195,566 Switzerland May 16, 1938

